This study explored two White inservice teachers’ understandings of Whiteness in relation to privilege and caring. A yearlong professional development set of courses used a multimodal construction of three significant course experiences designed to reposition Whiteness and illuminate White teachers ’ predisposition to care for their students in ways aligned with their own conceptions of caring.
It is common for teachers in all districts across the United States to give homework to their students. Given the rising numbers of children from nondominant backgrounds1 in American schools, a question that merits consideration is how children from nondominant backgrounds—particularly in large urban centers—are impacted by teachers' homework practices. In this study we explored why teachers in one large U.S. urban center assign homework, the kinds of homework teachers assign, and teachers' beliefs about the impact of this homework on their students' success at school. We collected surveys from 133 elementary school teachers (grades K through middle school) and interviewed a subgroup of 27 teachers from the larger group. Results revealed that although most teachers engaged in homework practices that were similar to those identified in current research (e.g., giving students skills based practice in math and spelling, in particular), most of the teachers in our study did make provisions for the fact that many of their children came from homes where English was not spoken at home and parents may not have the additional financial resources necessary to purchase materials for children to complete their homework.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.